A little while ago I had this idea in my head to write a text against body shaming. Body shaming in general. And to go along with the text I asked a photographer to take pictures of me. Completely natural. No make-up, no fancy clothing. Just me, naked. Not erotically, not sexualised. I want to share the picture and the text with you to show you, if you feel insecure about your body, you're not alone; and to raise awareness for this topic.
I confess.
I got brainwashed too. Of course I did. How couldn't I in a society like this, especially during coming of age.
We all got brainwashed. About the way we're supposed to look like.
I got bullied in school. For.. well.. everything. Teenaged kids can be so mean, no matter how you look like, you can get bullied. In my case, I had too big eyebrows, too much and dark hair on my arms (luckily at least my legs were shaved) and -the worst of them all- the few hair above my lips were dark and kids told me I'd have a beard (And now, these days, I love beards and would love to have proper one. Like Salvador Dalí or Captiain Hook!). Now tell that to a 10-14 year old. Thanks to my parents it didn't get as close to me as it could have. But close enough. When I was around 13 years old I started bleaching my so called mustache. BLEACHED. And when I ran out of the mixture and didn't buy new one I totally freaked out. Gosh, every month I put this burning cream on my face, waited twenty minutes and washed it off, just so people wouldn't bully me. Gladly I stopped that when I was around 15 or 16 and started not to care about it too much.
Since the hair in my armpits started growing, I shaved it off. It was just recently that I've decided I want to let it grow and see how it looks like. How I look like naturally. I stopped shaving my legs a while ago but this was new. Yes, you can be hygienic even with hair. Just wash it. ;)
Social Media tells us that showing female nipples is not okay. The problem is that female nipples have been sexualized, male nipples are okay though. So when I stopped wearing a bra I felt weird at first because people could see my nipples through. After a while I started to feel more comfortable. Sometimes I still wear a bra, but not because society tells me I'd have to but because I decide I want to.
Bodyshaming is a constant part of our lives and that has to change. Magazines, TV and social media plant these seeds in our brains that we have to be slim and tall, tanned and fit into all these boxes. The overwhelming amount of clothing stores made us believe that the fashion we're wearing is more important than the person within. Models show us that we can only be rich and famous if we're tall and skinny. Why not be fit and strong instead? Or just curvy as some may are naturally.
Someone looses weight and everyone goes like “Wow, did you loose weight? You look amazing!” Why not ask if the person feels amazing.
Many people are crazy about getting their “beach body” for summer... I'd say if you go to the beach, you've got a beach body.
We need to stop looking at other people -and ourselves- so sceptical. Why not be happy about the body you have? The “too big” feet that connect you to the earth, the “too short” legs that carry you all over the place, the “too fat” ass, the “too big” tummy, the “too small” boobs, the “too thin” hair, “too small” eyes, “too big nose” … How about we stop giving a f*ck about these “too much's” and start loving ourselves the way we are. If you want to change, ask yourself if YOU want to or if society tells you to. Getting fitter and stronger is a good thing and I encourage everyone to go for it if they want to. But do it out of your own will not because a magazine full of photoshopped models tells you to.
Get empowered and empower.
So, this is me. And I'm happy with who I am. I like the person I am becoming and I like the body I am having. That does not mean that it comments don't get to me. I'm still on the way to get there. But I am confident enough to put myself out there and to tell my story, that eventually I get some people to feel less bad about themselves.
